U.S. bombers drill over Korean peninsula
after latest North Korea launch
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[August 31, 2017]
By Jack Kim and Kaori Kaneko
SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korean and
Japanese jets joined exercises with two U.S. nuclear-capable bombers
above and near the Korean peninsula on Thursday, two days after North
Korea fired a missile over Japan, sharply raising tension.
The drills, involving two supersonic U.S. B-1B bombers, four U.S.
stealth F-35B jets as well as South Korean and Japanese fighter jets,
came at the end of annual joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises
focused mainly on computer simulations.
"North Korea's actions are a threat to our allies, partners and
homeland, and their destabilizing actions will be met accordingly,” said
General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, who
made an unscheduled visit to Japan to meet his counterparts.
“This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our
allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this
common regional threat. Our forward deployed force will be the first to
the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moment’s notice if
our nation calls."
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North Korea has made no secret of its intention to develop the knowhow
to launch a nuclear-tipped missile at the United States and has recently
threatened the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.
U.S. President Donald Trump has issued his own threats, warning North
Korea it would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States
and that the U.S. military was "locked and loaded" in case of any
provocation.
Trump on Wednesday declared "talking is not the answer" to resolving the
long-standing impasse.
"The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion
money, for 25 years," Trump, who last week said North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un was "starting to respect" the United States, wrote on Twitter.
"Talking is not the answer!"
However, U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis, when asked by reporters just
hours later if the United States had run out of diplomatic solutions
with North Korea, replied: "No."
"We are never out of diplomatic solutions," Mattis said before a meeting
with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon. "We continue to work
together, and the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for
the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests."
Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera spoke to Mattis by telephone
and agreed to keep putting pressure on North Korea in a "visible" form,
Japan's defense ministry said. Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe said he and
visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to urge China, North
Korea's lone major ally, to do more to rein in the North.
They also agreed to try to speed up the rate at which sanctions are
imposed on North Korea.
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SANCTION OPTIONS
The 15-member U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned the firing of
an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan as "outrageous" and
demanded that North Korea halt its weapons program, but the U.S.-drafted
statement did not threaten new sanctions.
Japan was pushing the United States to propose new U.N. Security Council
sanctions, which diplomats said could target North Korea's laborers
working abroad, oil supply and textile exports.
Diplomats expected resistance from Russia and fellow veto-wielding power
China, particularly given new measures were only recently imposed after
North Korea staged two long-range missile launches in July.
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![](../images/083117pics/news_p23.jpg)
South Korean soldiers take part in a military drill held as a part
of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise in Yongin, South Korea August
29, 2017. Hong Ki-Won/Yonhap/via REUTERS
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A U.S. ban on travel to North Korea comes into effect on Friday,
curbing one of its few remaining supplies of foreign currency.
China again urged restraint from all parties.
Defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang told a monthly briefing that
China would never allow war or chaos on the Korean peninsula, its
doorstep, and military means were not an option.
"China strongly demands all sides to exercise restraint and remain
calm and not do anything to worsen tensions," Ren said, adding that
Chinese forces were maintaining a normal state of alert along the
North Korean border.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the situation
on the peninsula was serious.
"I also want to stress that the current tense situation on the
peninsula isn't a screenplay or a video game," she told reporters.
"It's real, and is an immense and serious issue that directly
involves the safety of people from both the north and south of the
peninsula, as well as peace and stability of the entire region."
'KEY MILESTONE'
The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency and the crew of the
guided-missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones conducted a "complex
missile defense flight test" off Hawaii on Wednesday, resulting in
the intercept of a medium-range ballistic missile target, the agency
said.
The agency's director, Lieutenant General Sam Greaves, called the
test "a key milestone" in giving U.S. Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile
Defense ships an enhanced capability, but did not mention North
Korea.
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The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with
North Korea because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a
peace treaty.
North Korea routinely says it will never give up its weapons
programs, calling them necessary to counter perceived American
hostility.
North Korea's KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman
on Thursday as totally rejecting the U.N. Security Council
condemnation, again, and saying its missile test was "the first step
of our army's military operation in the Pacific and a meaningful
prelude to containing Guam which is an advanced base of invasion."
(Additional reporting by Tim Kelly, Linda Sieg and Nubohiro Kubo in
TOKYO, Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by
Lincoln Feast and Nick Macfie; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan,
Robert Birsel)
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